A teaching handbook by an engineer of the late nineteenth century in Italy

The paper aims to analyze the teaching handbook of an engineer, Raffaele Folinea, Professor of “Technical Architecture” from 1887 to 1924 at the School of Application for Engineers of Naples. The text –a lithographed publication – is the summary of his lectures, essentially intended to students of the school of Naples. Folinea taught future engineers the basics of architecture, still recovering “Durand method” of teaching based on the architectural elements. The importance of designing the plan of a building clearly shows a clear debt to the French architect. But even within a very technical manuscript, there are several theories on aesthetic considerations. The study of “Technical Architecture” courses and, particularly, of the lecture notes by Folinea, will allow to better understand the architectural training of civil engineers in Italy in the late nineteenth century. The same engineers who will be responsible for the transformation of most cities during the XXth century.